Leopard geckos thrive on a diet consisting of crickets, mealworms and cockroaches. To ensure optimal nutrition for your leo, gut load your insects and give them a vitamin supplement before offering them to your leo.
To keep your leopard gecko healthy and prevent Metabolic Bone Disease, dust their feeder insects with calcium powder before each feeding. Doing this will guarantee they get all of the essential nutrients they require.
Contents
Crickets
Crickets are a favorite feeder insect among pet leopard geckos due to their variety of sizes, affordability and accessibility. Furthermore, crickets provide important calcium for pet reptiles.
Crickets come in three subfamilies: ant-loving Myrmecophilinae, winged bush crickets (Subfamily Trigonidiinae) and sword-bearing Mogoplistinae. Generally living inside ants’ nests, these pests feed on various small insects and fruits.
They can be a nuisance inside homes, chewing through fabrics and pets. On the other hand, they can also be beneficial in gardens as they eat pesky insects and break down dead plant matter into “gardeners’ gold,” or humus – improving soil health.
Leopard geckos should be fed two appropriately-sized crickets per inch of their total length each day. Juveniles should be fed daily, while adults can be fed every other day or once a week depending on their weight.
Mealworms
Leopard geckos are popular choices for new keepers, but understanding their requirements can be challenging. Fortunately, these reptiles tend to be insectivores and will eat a variety of insects.
Leopard geckos enjoy a varied diet that includes crickets, dubia roaches, mealworms and Phoenix worms as well as supplemental foods like wax worms and calcium supplements. These nutritious treats provide your pet with essential protein and calcium levels which in turn helps strengthen the bones.
Mealworms make an excellent staple food choice for leopard geckos, as they come in various sizes and are easily accessible. Not only that, but these creatures also contain calcium and can be supplemented with powdered vitamin supplements to make them high-quality food items.
Mealworms are especially beneficial for young leopard geckos, as they’re low in fat and packed with protein. However, it should be fed less frequently than larger prey such as cockroaches or crickets.
Dubia Roaches
Leopard geckos prefer dubia roaches as a nutritious and tasty food source. Unlike crickets, which tend to fly or climb over smooth surfaces, dubia roaches don’t do this.
These insects are high in protein and low in fat, plus a great source of calcium.
However, they are not as popular as crickets or mealworms, making them harder to locate and thus more expensive than other insect foods.
As a general guideline, feed your gecko two cockroaches per inch of body length. This should provide them with sufficient nutrition.
You can even give your gecko dubia roaches as a treat if they’re unwilling to eat other foods. Just remember that dubia roaches have very poor calcium-to-phosphorus ratios, so before feeding them with calcium powder they must first be sprinkled with some powdered calcium.
Silkworms
Leopard geckos are primarily herbivorous in the wild, feeding on grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, beetles, caterpillars and flies. They will also take advantage of any opportunities to hunt small lizards or snakes as well as newborn rodents.
Silkworms may be more expensive than crickets or mealworms, but they make an excellent choice for your leopard gecko and can easily be raised at home.
Silkworms can be purchased either live or canned. Be sure to monitor them closely during this period so that they don’t become rotten or die. On average, silkworms take one month to grow large enough to spin a cocoon and change into moths within three weeks.
Hornworms and butterworms can be offered to your leopard gecko as occasional treats, but they’re high in fat and nutritionally lacking. Therefore, these should only be given as occasional treats or supplement staple foods like crickets or mealworms. Gut loading your feeder insects with nutrient-rich foods 24-48 hours before giving them to your gecko is key for increasing their vitamin and mineral content.
